Skip to main content

Yet another new blog...

By Unknown
So I've decided to start a new blog, which I do from time to time. I have my main personal blog at http://boolah.dupadee.net/ which is where I can feel free to write about various topics of interest to me. However, I wanted to try something a bit different for any writing I do about technology. Often my tech posts feel out of place on my personal blog, and my personal posts feel out of place for the tech people who might read my tech posts. So I'm going to start up a new targeted site here and see how it goes. It might get abandoned as many blogs do, but who knows, something might stick.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to try the new Blogger. I haven't used their service in a looooong time, and from the looks of it, it's gotten a complete and total over-haul from older versions I've used. So far I'm liking it, though I'm not sure it's quite as full featured as good old faithful WordPress.

Now, about the name of this blog. Many people know that I appropriate the term Liberal Arts Technologist as a way to describe myself, and so that's the name of this blog. Instead of re-explaining the term, I'm going to paste a blog entry here from my personal blog where I wrote about Steve Jobs. In it, I talk about how Apple presents the notion of Liberal Arts and Technology, and why it feels appropriate to me. Enjoy!

Steve Jobs and Me
I joined millions of people yesterday in my sadness at losing Steve Jobs from this world. He was a one of a kind innovator and the world is a much different place because of his work. In fact his work directly affected me and where I’m at in my life.
I’ve spent my entire adult life in a career in technology, and much of that is due to my very young exposure to computers. When I was 7 years old my mom was working as a teacher’s aide at a school. During the summer her boss let her bring home an Apple II computer for me to use. It was my first exposure to computers, and it hooked me. Even though the first computer that I owned was a C64, Apple computers were everywhere in my educational development. It’s because of this early use of computers, that even though I went to school for a completely different field, I still was able to move in to the technology field and make a successful career.
That brings me to the second piece of my connection with Apple/Jobs. In recent years, Jobs presented the concept that Apple wanted to be at the intersection of Technology and Liberal Arts, presenting this as an image of two street signs at a road intersection. When he first mentioned the idea it struck me because it’s exactly the type of technologist that I have built my career on being. In my interview for my latest job, I even started out my personal introduction by saying I’m a “liberal arts technologist.” I say this, because I have no formal Computer Science education, and have no desire to be a scientist in technology. My goal is to enable technology to enhance life, and solve problems. I’m a very practical and gadget oriented person when it comes to technology. 
This is because at heart I want to solve problems. Even though it sometimes has annoyed people close to me, I always want to fix problems, and come up with solutions. This is what I do in technology. I take my life and experience with history and theology, and many other disciplines, and try to find ways to get technology to help solve the problems I’m faced with. It’s why I love things like smartphones and tablets and multimedia devices. They help to solve problems, and when used properly, can add to our experiences of life. Even looking at innovations such as the Internet, and how I’ve developed multiple, deep, personal friendships from my connections there, is an example of how technology can shape our lives in a positive way. 
That’s the intersection of technology and liberal arts, and it’s where I live. Thank you Steve Jobs for all the work you did to make that possibility a reality.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The beat goes on

By
Yesterday Apple revealed their long awaited entry into the streaming music field. They were able to do this quickly because of the acquisition of Beats last year, and the systems and intellectual property that came with that purchase. Considering that the music reveal was pretty much the only big news out of a pretty benign developer keynote, I'll take a few moments to talk about what I think about it. Apple was perhaps the defining company in the music revolution of the past 20 years. With the introduction of the iPod that revolutionized portable music, to the creation of the iTunes store and the eventual death of DRM, Apple has been at the forefront of digital music. This leadership comes with high expectations to continue to lead, and so many people have long questioned Apple not getting into the streaming music business quicker. For the past few years new companies have come forth to lead the change in the streaming music evolution. From Pandora and its ability to create un
4 comments
Read more

The NEW Microsoft

By
Today Microsoft held their Build conference keynote. As with Apple and Google, developer conference keynotes have become a mainstay of announcements for the general public beyond developers. At first it seemed that Microsoft would be bucking that trend today as the first portions of their keynote were very, very developer centric. However, a lot changed when they started talking about Windows 10. Microsoft is betting the future on building a platform that applications will build off of. Much like Apple and Google, they seem to be discovering that the real money isn't in the operating system itself, but in helping bring applications to consumers through validated app stores. In Microsoft's case it's also seeking to converge all of their platforms into a single unified platform. They once again reiterated today that Windows 10 will run on all of the devices that are out there, from phones to tablets to PC's to XBox game consoles. This means that applications can be writ
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome do double digits Mr. Windows

By
This past week was big for Microsoft and it's future with Windows. Windows 10 was given star status at a press reveal, showing off all of the new features that will be coming in this highly anticipated update to many of our desktops. I watched the live blog of the event, and have been reading over a lot of the reviews of the new technology that Microsoft is looking to deploy. My initial reaction is to be impressed. Much of what was wrong with Windows in the past seems to be a focal point for fixing in Windows 10. A few key things stood out to me as areas that I'm anxious to see more. First, I have to applaud Microsoft for being willing to step back from a design decision (Metro) that didn't pan out they way that they wanted it to. They took what they learned from that experience and have incorporated it into the regular desktop experience in a way that is much more seamless and useful. In fact, Microsoft is ahead of the curve in how they are presenting a user interface
Post a Comment
Read more